Anyone have any advice?

My female cat is, 95% of the time, very loving and playful. But she can a right little bitch!!!
It seems that if she doesn't want to do something she will hiss and do a little "growl", it's always over in a flash but it's because it's so out of character that it's a concern.
For example, I got up from the sofa today and she jumped into my spot because it was nice and warm. When I returned I spoke in a friendly soft voice and gently put my hand on her side and patted as if to say "come on, that's my place". She instantly flashed round and hissed at me. Not a minute later she was curled up in my lap.

Just can't work it out and don't know what to do.
Do I just accept that she's like that?

My Shadow is like that too. I put it down to him being a grumpy old man expressing his dislike for something I do. Like you say it is over quickly and he is my best friend again, but it does make me a bit wary of him at times as he also swipes at me with his claws.

I don't have any advice I'm afraid, I just accept that that is the way he is now he is getting old. So I would be interested to see what other people also have to say in response to this question.

Plenty of cats are like that.

I suppose I notice it more because no other cat I've had as done it. My previous cat never ever showed any negative behavior or personality.

I know it's no big deal, just as shame she can be like that.

I had a railway cat who was a right bitch. My other two were sweetie pies.

A beautiful cat moved in with us and our three cats some years ago. He was a stray and turned out to be badly injured. We had him repaired and when he was at 100% he tried to drive the other cats out of the house. We called him Mad Jack. He would growl and be very threatening with us but we'd call his bluff and either stamp our feet or snap back at him so he was under no illusion who was in charge. He adored my wife and never really stepped out of line. However in time he wasn't just establishing dominance over the other cats but started attacking viciously on sight.

We had a very sympathetic vet who literally gave us medication to calm him but eventually the fruitless task of keeping our own gang safe and controlling him became too much. The rescue centre we'd taken two of our three from said they'd have him.

Within a couple of days of him being offered for re homing a female pensioner said she'd have him. She'd had him about a month when we got a call from the rescue centre saying she'd been so happy with him that she wanted to tell us about him, and asked to be put in touch. My wife talked to her on the phone. She said he was lovely and that he slept with her and she was so happy with him. She added that he'd scratched her as she was putting down his food that morning. She invited us over to visit the following weekend as she only lived about 10 miles away.

We got a phone call before the weekend saying she no longer had Jack. She'd fallen asleep on the settee one night wearing a light nightie and dressing gown and on waking up after midnight, got up to go to bed when Jack launched himself at her, biting and scratching. She made her escape from the room via a French window and into the back garden. She climbed over a fence and banged on her neighbour's door until he got up and came to see what was going on. She was covered in bruises, bites and scratches to her arms legs and her head. He put her in his car and rushed to A&E as there was one just a couple of miles up the road. There they couldn't believe it had been a cat attack.

We went to see her a week later than planned and were horrified at the state she was in. Jack was put out in a cage at the rescue centre where he attempted to knock seven bells out of any male cats he was caged with. However the centre were very honest about describing his temperament and he had no takers. We used to call in every few months and the staff would watch nervously as my wife gave him a cuddle. I think she'd have been burned as a witch if she'd been born a few centuries earlier.

We said that if our gang all passed on and Jack was still behind bars then we'd have him back, but the last of them is still with us at 18 and too soft and loveable to deserve any harassment at all.

The last time we saw him they'd brought him indoors as he was getting older. We stopped going because it was upsetting my wife too much to see him.

my cat used to be a little b*tch and would lash out if you walked past her. She was feral and is blind in one eye, we nicknamed her pyscho as she would just sit under the sideboard by the dining room door and if anyone human or cat walked past her she would growl, hiss and scratch(many scratches and scars have been had) but we all got used to jumping out of the way. Only my younger brother and I could go near her, we had 4 other cats at the time one was really old and her arch nemesis and the other was getting on a bit. ]

My parents got so fed up at times that they talked about taking her back to the RSPCA as she was upsetting the other cats. As she had slowly turned into my cat I had to stop them as with her the way she was no one would have taken her and we couldn't let her go knowing that she could have been left at the RSPCA for good knows how long. Anyway when my partner and I moved out three years ago we took her with us and she has settled down and has changed so much. She comes and sits on my lap and falls asleep or she sits in between me and my partner on the sofa(quite a romance killer really).

She still has a little b*tch inside of her which she still has to show occasionally mainly at the vets or if you touch her bald spot or her sore spots by mistake (she has an allergy to dust mites and food mites). She gets very cross when I move her from my lap and she gets told off when she does, but she is such a loveable cat. Now when my family come round she is all over them purring, she even lets us brush her. But when she has had enough she will let you know with a growl and a quick hit with the paw.

OP is your ct a tortie

What a sad story.

No, just a black and white moggy

one of mine is! and she has the most awful mood swings known to man....or cat. she is really loving one day and a total horror the next. she is way to beautiful to be angry at though

is this something to do with her being tortoiseshell?

Yeah, my cat is like this. Nice as anything a lot of the time, but a vicious, mean grumpy growly cat for the rest of it. I got her from a rescue as she'd been rehomed twice before but had attacked people and been brought back. If you are firm- like picking her up and putting her on the floor, rather than just nudging her she's mostly fine. It's if you're hesitant that she flips. She's 10 now, so has calmed down, but when I got her when she was 4 she was a shocker.

Blooomin cats. Wrapped round her dew claw I am.

Yep

I took in a feral tortie many moons ago. Double whammy!

God I adored her.

They do like the best places to sleep on the sofa or a nice comfy chair! Maybe she resents being moved, and it brings the worst of her out. Most of them don't like giving up their cosy places do they?!

My bossy female is maisey moo moo. If anyone narks her off she will hit them. My torties come a close second. They take after there mum maisey as well. Stubbon little mares

We've got one cat who's always had an uncertain temper - he hates everyone except me, and only tolerates me to a certain extent. You'll be stroking him nicely and he'll be relaxed and purring away, then suddenly he'll turn round and bite! He's been better since he got ill and had to get used to being handled a lot, but I think it's just the cat's nature. Our Maine Coon has never hissed or shown signs of anger, but he will bite if he gets excited (I do sometimes rough-house with him, although I know I shouldn't, so I guess it's my own fault!).

mines a black and white moggy must be in the genes

I had a tortoiseshell for almost 20 years.

She had a foul temper and I let her live with relatives for a time after their old cat died aged 21. I could not believe the stories they told me of how she bossed them around.

My present cat (4 year old male) couldn't be more placid, he just curls up on me and sleeps.

Here they are, the old tortoiseshell sadly died last year aged 20
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6040429...n/photostream/

Thats what 2 of my torties look like pure blooming evil most of the time and the rest of the time little miss goody two shoes

She was a great cat and I still miss her, the other cat behaves beautifully, never puts a foot wrong, never hisses or spits.

He eats like a horse though, I have to control what he eats.

My female (moggie) is like that too....she's over a year old now but we got her at about 7 weeks' old from someone who got her when she was about 5 weels' old.

I think the behaviour may be about not being around the mother cat for long enough and not learning what is socially (cat world) acceptable behaviour. Slowly, she is becoming more affectionate but it's as well we love her so much.....and she's gorgeous. But she is our Miss Bitels and Scratchles

You could be right about that. Our bitey cat was found abandoned at about 5 weeks old too, and he was also the only one we've had who would "suckle" on things, usually the cat hammock. The others never did. Oddly enough, he's probably my favourite of the three, I admire his character! He's certainly the most intelligent.

My cat still suckles on blankies.....bless. Hate making her stop but I worry she'll get terrible hair/fluff balls.